Hailstorm destroyed crops in Niwari, debt on farmers to rise

Virendra Kushwaha (52) from the Niwari district of Madhya Pradesh got his daughter married only last year. He had taken a loan of Rs 3 lakh for this marriage. Out of which, he had paid Rs 1.5 lakh. This year he had sown wheat, gram and peas as Rabi crops, and was a good harvest to repay his outstanding loan. Even on the last day of February, his lush fields gave him no reason to doubt his belief.

But, March had a darker shadow. The sudden rain and hailstorm between March 2 and 3 completely ruined the crop and his associated hopes. Kushwaha while talking to us says,

“Now only stubble is left in the field. The whole field is destroyed. Nothing is left.”

According to the Indian Meteorological Department, due to the Western Disturbance generated in Northern Afghanistan and surrounding areas, many parts of the country including Madhya Pradesh became the victims of irregular rain and hailstorms. Due to hailstorms and rain during this period, 15 districts of Madhya Pradesh have been badly affected. Of these, gram and wheat crops in parts of the Bundelkhand region have suffered 20 to 30 per cent damage. Furthermore, the mustard crop in the Chambal region has been badly affected.

Kushwaha supports his family by growing vegetables and grains. Describing the damage caused by hailstorms, he says,

“The chilli crop was fully grown in my field. It would yield about 1.5 to 2 quintals of chilli. Similarly, there was a brinjal crop also. But now the entire crop is destroyed. They will not be sold even at their cost in the market.”

Kushwaha had saved 2-3 quintals of last season's wheat for domestic use. He sold it off in the hope of saving some quintals from the upcoming harvest. Since the crop got spoiled, so now they have to buy flour from the market for daily food.

Increasing intensity of hailstorm

Jairam Rajput, a 63-year-old farmer from Maharajpura, another village in Niwari district, says that he has never seen such a hailstorm in his life.

“I have not been able to understand the weather for the last 3-4 years. It's getting worse anytime. Often our crops are getting ruined.”

Sonam Lotus, head of the Ladakh Center of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), says that the warm atmosphere is responsible for hailstorms.

“Due to climate change, the earth's temperature has increased due to which the intensity of hailstorms has increased.”

The intensity of hail is generally measured by the size of the hail and the amount of hail that falls. Due to an uncontrolled environment, local heating i.e. increase in temperature of a particular place, front, and geographical conditions causes air to move upwards (updrafts). This wind carries water up into the atmosphere in the form of humidity. Here, since the atmosphere is cold, these water droplets become condensed and start taking the form of ice.

The size of this ball of ice or rather hail keeps increasing until the updraft winds become weak enough to carry it higher. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an updraft of 103 KM/H can create a hail of 42.7 mm in diameter. If you want to understand this in your imagination, then imagine that hailstones the size of baseballs are falling from the sky.

“Have seen such a disaster after years”

Exactly a year ago in March 2023, 20 districts of Madhya Pradesh were affected due to sudden hailstorm. During this time, a thick layer of snow (hail) had accumulated in the Jhirnya tehsil of Khargone district. People of Nad village of Rajnagar tehsil of Chhatarpur district saw a similar scene between March 2 and 3, this year. Recalling the hailstorm this year, farmer Sarjuram Ahirwar (64) says,

“The hailstorm started around 4:30 in the evening. By evening, all three of our crops were ruined. Now the man is picking the broken grains.”

Sarjuram had sown crops of wheat, peas, gram, lentils and barley. He says that if the weather had supported him, 'gram worth Rs 1 lakh, 15 bags of mustard, 4 quintals of peas, 5 quintals of peas and 2 quintals of coriander would have been produced.' But apart from the crops, his kutcha house has also been damaged due to hail. He recalls that 'earlier in 2014, such hail had fallen.'

The incident that Sarju is remembering. During that period, there were continuous hailstorms at intervals of a few days from February 26 to March 15, 2014. During this period, a loss of Rs 10 to 15 thousand crores was recorded across the country. In Maharashtra, about 1.9 million hectares of crops and about 62,250 birds of 35 species were killed.

During the 2-3 March, more than 6 peacocks were killed due to a hailstorm in Nad village of Chhatarpur. Even when we reached here, the carcasses of the birds were still on the ground. Regarding this, local farmer Raghunath Singh Yadav says,

“When we went to the fields the next morning after the hailstorm, birds were also lying dead in the fields. Peacocks were also found in two fields of the village.”

From this, one can estimate the intensity of hail. In such a situation how will the farmer's crop survive?

Is there any way to protect agriculture from hail?

To reduce the damage caused to the crops due to hailstorms, preparations can be made at three levels. This includes providing information to farmers before a hailstorm, use of measures like hail net and proper payment of insurance and compensation amount, if the hailstorm has destroyed the crops.

Pre-hailstorm Prevention

It is almost impossible to stop hailstorms. In such a situation, the damage caused by it can be reduced by making the forecast more accurate. There are currently 30,000 automatic weather data collection points in India. It can forecast weather changes in the coming days. It is noteworthy that a hailstorm forecast was made by IMD on March 2nd. But local farmers say that no such information reached them. Asharam Yadav of Nad village says,

“Even if we know in advance, will we harvest the half-ripened crop?”

At the same time, agriculture expert Dr Pradeep Nandi also accepts that even after collecting the data, the dissemination of information to the relevant stakeholders isn’t up to the mark, if not disappointing. 

Safety during hailstorm

Dr Nandi says that hailstorms are the most dangerous for agriculture. Apart from crops, there is also a danger of animals getting injured or dying. However, anti-hail nets have been used for the last few years to protect apple cultivation in Himachal Pradesh. But, apart from horticulture, no efforts have been made to bring anti-hail nets into Indian agriculture. And, Dr Nandi considers such an effort difficult in the Indian context,

“Installing nets in the fields will increase the cost of the crop, which is not possible even for farmers with large land holdings in India to bear.”

Anti-hail nets can protect crops from damage caused by hail, birds and other attacks. These can be installed on crops, canopies, and greenhouse enclosures. The average price of the anti-hail net for agriculture in the market is Rs 20 per square meter. According to this, it will cost around Rs 80,000 to buy a net in one acre and on top of that there will be installation costs separately.

Are compensation and crop insurance sufficient?

An official of the Revenue Department of Niwari district, on the condition of anonymity, says that according to the Revenue Book Circular, the farmer gets a minimum compensation of Rs 5,000 and a maximum of Rs 1,20,000. However, the farmers here deny this. Virendra Kushwaha says,

“Whenever the crop is destroyed, we are handed a check of Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000.”

The farmers here say that most of the time the company does not pay the insurance amount. Even if it is given, it is only a few per cent of the actual loss. Dr Nandi says that to give real compensation to the farmers, we should honestly assess the loss along with the cost of the crops. He believes that currently, the government gives 'consolation money' in the name of compensation. Also, he adds, the government will have to rein in the insurance companies and the Center itself will have to issue guidelines for this.

Despite various schemes related to agriculture, the government doesn’t have any concrete plan to protect the crops from hailstorms. Forecasting disasters is possible with new technology. But, the biggest challenge is the channel to spread the information to the farmers at the right time. In such a situation, work should be done on priority only on post-hailstorm management in India. For this, proper cost analysis should be done to decide the right amount of compensation. At the same time, expansion of insurance-related schemes is necessary. Apart from this, the government will have to intervene and make efforts to ensure that farmers get appropriate insurance amounts.

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